


Ballerina

by Lanerose



Category: Princess Tutu
Genre: Ballet, F/M, Fluff, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-09-10
Updated: 2007-09-10
Packaged: 2018-07-15 20:49:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7237975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lanerose/pseuds/Lanerose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In each ballet troupe, there can be only one ballerina.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ballerina

"Look, look, Pique, there she is!" Lilli hissed to her fellow dancer as they sat among the servants on stage, kneeling just in from the wings. The ballerina and her cavalier, Aurora and Florimund, moved quickly through the upstage center door, running downstage. At center stage they paused, hands joined, and acknowledged the audience.

 

"Quiet, Lilli!" The dark haired girl whispered as the prince stepped away, breaking their hands apart. The music began, and he turned to Aurora and offered her his hand once more. She took it, rising en pointe and positioning her left hand above her head. Aurora raised her right leg in an extension en arriere as it passed behind Florimund's back. The tip of her toe rested as easily at shoulder level as it had on the floor. Slowly, without lowering her leg, she bent backwards, tipping until she could see the audience.

 

"She's lovely," the dance teacher's wife commented to her husband in the wings as Aurora turned en dehors until she stood facing the audience en arabesque, her right leg now wrapping around Florimund behind her. Florimund supported her at the waist as she bent forward and reached her right hand toward the ground, her right foot rising to behind his head. She switched arms, and her torso rotated with the movement until Florimund's hand at her side called on her to look up once more, her leg extended only at waist level.

 

"She's come a long way," the instructor commented. The ballerina and her chevalier turned as one to the audience. At last Aurora lowered her right leg to the ground, and the two glissaded away from one another. They paused at the sides of the stage and turned back, each offering the other their hand. The ballerina smiled shyly and looked down with a momentary flush as she gestured her love to Florimund. He hurried back to center stage and went down on one knee, waiting for her.

 

"Really?" The instructor's wife asked as Aurora ran to him and lowered her face to his as though to steal a kiss. The two broke apart and executed complimentary battement frappes. She looked to the sky as he moved once more to center stage and offered her his hand. Aurora softened, going to give him her hand and rising en arabesque en pointe once more. "You can't tell."

 

"Yes." Florimund held her hand as he walked in a circle around her. Aurora turned with him, her posture and pose never breaking for a moment as one the tips of her toes and Florimund's grip on her hand kept her up. When he once more faced the audience, the chevalier released his hold on her hand. She raised it gracefully above her and stayed their for only a moment before bending backwards to the audience. "If you had seen her the first time she danced this role, you would never have believed she would some day be good enough to do it before an audience."

 

The two dancers broke apart once Aurora again lifted her head. She stepped away from him before spinning back into his arms, turning still in his embrace.

 

"You won't leave me again after this next part, will you?" She whispered before leaning forward, her leg behind her male counterpart as he spun them both twice.

 

"Maybe if you're an eyesore again…" He replied as she stood upright once more and the two extended their left arms to the wing in preparation.

 

"Fakir!" They stepped forward twice en pique. She turned towards the dark-haired man, Aurora's coy smile for the audience on her face as she raised her right hand to her cheek. Fakir laughed, and met her blue eyes.

 

"Never, Ahiru," he said, and the red head's smile became real as he positioned both his hands on her waist. "I'm never letting you go again."

 

"Fakir…"

 

Fakir's strong arms lifted her towards the heavens, and Ahiru floated across the stage as naturally as a duck across a pond.

**Author's Note:**

> These are going to be heinously long, so bear with me. 
> 
> This story is called ballerina because, as I recently discovered, a ballet company only refers to their top dancer as a ballerina – the point being that Ahiru has become a top dancer here. All ballet terms came from here, but I recommend clicking the link below if you need help picturing it.
> 
> With the names – Aurora and Florimund are characters in Sleeping Beauty. The "action" of the story, if you will, is the opening of the grand pas de deux between Aurora and Florimund at the end of Sleeping Beauty. For anyone who's curious, you can watch the whole performance on Youtube and pretend it's Ahiru and Fakir. The link I had is dead now, and apparently the particular performance I used is a variant, but you can get fairly close.
> 
> Finally, Sleeping Beauty – this itself is a reference to Princess Tutu canon. Ahiru and Fakir's first pas de deux (in episode 6, and it almost hurts to watch, Ahiru's so bad at it) is supposed to be from Sleeping Beauty. To judge by costumes and a few moves, the grand pas de deux seemed to me the most likely, which is why they were cast as they were. I liked the symmetry of having them perform it here. ^_^
> 
> Also, no, I did not explain how Ahiru became a girl again. That's a story for another time, as they say.


End file.
